I prepped the diapers and was ready to start by the next day. I was so excited to give it a try. I wanted to cloth diaper for 2 of the 3 big reasons… cost and cuteness, and boy did my baby look cute in his gdiaper. Of course I hadn´t made any preparations for what I would do after taking the dirty diaper off of my baby, and YES! That is very important! That day I learned what a wet bag was for.

At the time, we were in the process of moving from Puerto Rico to Spain, so I didn´t want to buy everything that I wanted and then not have enough room in my suitcase for clothes (Yes, I love them so much that I would have parted with my clothes before my treasured diapers). I reminded myself to be patient and make due, I would get everything I needed and wanted soon.

My hubby had shown me pictures of the studio he found, and told me it was pretty small; somehow it seemed much smaller when we arrived. Just to give you an idea, imagine a bedroom, with a bathroom, a small kitchen and thank God an enclosed terrace (This feature gives us a little more room).

We may have a very small living space, but we make it work; just like we make cloth diapering work. Our current stash consists of 10 pocket diapers (bumgenius, fuzzibunz and bottombumpers) 1 wet bag, about 2 dozen baby washcloths, and 1 bag of rockin green.

How do we do it?

Baby uses about 6 diapers a day, so we wash every other day and hang the diapers outside to dry. If I need a diaper before I have any dry onesize inserts, I stuff the diaper with a few of the newborn inserts that it came with.

Not having a diaper sprayer is not the end of the world. Yes I would LOVE to have one; but my shower head works great! I shake out whatever I can in the toilet, spray out the diaper in the shower, put the diaper in the wet bag and rinse out the shower with hot water and cleanser.

A diaper pail would only take up necessary space; instead, my wet bag hangs on a hook in the room.

We don’t use a changing table or station, we change the baby on the bed (the old school way), use regular baby wipes and make a homemade wipe solution. His clean diapers are stored in a shelf in his closet.

If I had a choice, would I live in a bigger place? Have an adorable changing area? Have more than 1 wet bag? Have a diaper sprayer? And about 2 dozen more diapers? YES! (Believe me, I have a pretty awesome wishlist) But you know what? That’s not gonna stop me from cloth diapering.

At the end of January, when my husband was laid off, it was such a relief not to worry about how we were going to buy diapers. My baby is almost 15 months old and not once have we had to make an emergency diaper run.

Cloth diapering has been one of the best parenting decisions we have made. Keep it simple, don´t let what you don´t have, stop you from using what you do have.

Rebecca and her husband have been married for 4 years, have a beautiful 14 month old boy and live in Spain. She truly is an imported mama. Check out her blog at www.importedmama.blogspot.com

Whispered by
ClothDiaperPoster

13 comments:

Wow, only 10? My baby goes through that in a couple of hours (he is 8 weeks old, too). Sorry about your husband being layed off, and congrats on making the cloth diapers fit your lifestyle! They are running my life, with all the washing! I love the pictures you put up, too. You're an amazing woman! <3

I love the look of freshly washed diapers hanging on the line! One of the disappointing factors of renting is that often, landlords won't let you put up clotheslines. We use a drying rack. :~) Not quite the same. Good for you guys for keeping it simple and sticking it through! And I totally agree with you about how nice it is to not have to worry about how you're going to afford diapers.

Thanks for writing this! It's encouraging because my husband and I, along with our baby girl, will most likely be moving to Tokyo next January...and Tokyo is known for it's small living spaces. I'm glad to know it's possible to continue cding in those conditions!

Thanks for this post! I'll be cd'ing my baby due in July, and we live in a one-bedroom apartment. Little bit bigger than yours, but still no room for a changing table, tons of diapers, and no washer/dryer! Thanks for showing it can be done!

We live on a 35' sailboat and cloth diaper...I think the challenge of a small space makes cloth diapering all the more fun, and much more affordable because you're less tempted to splurge. We use flats and econobum covers...the flats dry quickly on the boat and don't take up a ton of space.

We live in a very small apartment for 3 people and 2 medium/large breed dogs . I rack dry on the balcony, have about 20 pockets and 12 flats (with a couple covers and extra stay dry inserts) that I store in her diaper bag, under her crib in a basket or in a hanging diaper bag tied to her crib. We have one large wet bag for dirties that hangs in the laundry "closet". We don't have a changing table and also change her on the bed.... And she doesn't have a dresser either. She has one drawer in our large dresser for her clothes and some of her rompers/dresses hang in our very very very tiny closet. It's cozy but we love it. :) it would be nice for her to have her own room though... So we wouldn't have to worry about waking her up. Oh well.

We live in a very small apartment for 3 people and 2 medium/large breed dogs . I rack dry on the balcony, have about 20 pockets and 12 flats (with a couple covers and extra stay dry inserts) that I store in her diaper bag, under her crib in a basket or in a hanging diaper bag tied to her crib. We have one large wet bag for dirties that hangs in the laundry "closet". We don't have a changing table and also change her on the bed.... And she doesn't have a dresser either. She has one drawer in our large dresser for her clothes and some of her rompers/dresses hang in our very very very tiny closet. It's cozy but we love it. :) it would be nice for her to have her own room though... So we wouldn't have to worry about waking her up. Oh well.

we rented a room for one year in a large house in san francisco. we had one baby and one on the way - which was born while we lived there. it was really hard - in some ways - but we also learned that we really didn't need as much stuff as we'd had before. now we have a house again - but we still try to live simply and with as little stuff as possible. it is a good lesson to learn.